"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Monday, July 14, 2014

Chicago City of Murder (CCOM)

As violence in poor Chicago neighborhoods reaches epidemic proportions, with 84 people shot in an 82 hour window in July, Mayor Rahm has a new initiative to encourage young people to spend more time coding. Perhaps Microsoft will provide bullet-free bunkers for children to work in as they come up with new ideas to make Silicon Valley whales even fatter.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched the Chicago City of Learning (CCOL) Month of Code Challenge to all Cities of Learning today to encourage young people to explore the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) fields. Through CCOL, youth have the opportunity to earn digital badges through building video games, interactive stories, and mobile apps between July 9 and August 8, 2014.

“The Chicago City of Learning Month of Code Challenge will allow students to discover their full potential through additional STEAM opportunities,” said Mayor Emanuel. “The Month of Code Challenge gives students a chance to explore the immense fun and tremendous value of coding, while having a safe, productive summer.”

Youth who participate in the STEAM coding challenge will learn how to design and develop games or apps to highlight these subjects. They may use App Inventor, Scratch Interactive Adventure, Microsoft’s TouchDevelop, UDK game design, Construct 2, or any open source platform for the challenge. As youth earn digital badges each week, they are entered to win various prizes including movie tickets, video games, DVDs, gift cards, a Chromebook or and iPad Air.